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Old 03-31-2012, 10:05 PM
 
3,276 posts, read 7,832,178 times
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I visited my parents last night and brought up an idea I've been toying with recently to do a drastic career change- from accounting to a skilled trade. Maybe I'm nuts, but I'm young and am very unsatisfied with my career. The toxic people, sitting in a cubicle all day, the boring work, I just hate all of it. I'm ready for it to end. I also have a nice nest egg for a cushion (almost 100k).

Of course that wouldn't entail me quitting my job abruptly since I don't want to blow through my savings, but I would take night classes at a technical school of some kind and then when I get some kind of offer, ditch accounting and start on my new career. Yes, I realize I will be taking a big pay cut but I don't care. I'm thinking electrical or maybe working towards the nicet certification (taking the suggestion from nicet4). Inspecting sprinkler systems seems interesting. So does electrical work, although I've heard they have been hit hard by the recession.

So I ran my ideas by my folks to get their input, and my dad said that "trades are for people who aren't intelligent" and that I will be stuck making low wages for the rest of my life. He then went on to tell me that women want men who have money and that people who work trades aren't as stable and that a woman will go with the business man before a moron who works with his hands and comes home dirty every day.

Oh well, it would be nice to have parental support. It isn't going to stop me from pursuing my plans though!!
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Old 03-31-2012, 10:21 PM
 
Location: Kentucky Girl
428 posts, read 899,508 times
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The second part is not true as far as woman dont want a man who are in business and dont want a guy who comes home dirty.. Most woman want is a man with a job who can help support the family, or the two of you or whatever your child choices are. My boyfriend is currently a die cast/machine operator/all types of factory stuff and weve been together for 3 yrs. So I wouldnt listen to any of that bs your parents are throwing at you.

Cubicle life isnt for everyone and it does get monotous and if u want to take classes to change it up go for it and good luck.
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Old 03-31-2012, 10:30 PM
 
Location: Seattle, Washington
878 posts, read 1,650,518 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by statisticsnerd View Post
So I ran my ideas by my folks to get their input, and my dad said that "trades are for people who aren't intelligent" and that I will be stuck making low wages for the rest of my life.

He then went on to tell me that women want men who have money and that people who work trades aren't as stable and that a woman will go with the business man before a moron who works with his hands and comes home dirty every day.

What's your dad's definition of low wages? I graduated high school in 1993, went straight to work at 19 years old in a factory that made aluminum windows for commercial vehicles and boats. I started at the bottom doing stuff like deburring aluminum parts. I was making $6.05 an hour.

I stayed in the manufacturing field and moved to operating manual machines like saws and drill presses. Then in 2000 I got an offer to run a CNC machine... I've always been a computer whiz and my employer got a new plasma cutting machine and asked me if I wanted to learn it. Anything to improve the resume!!! I learned the machine and was making $12 an hour at the time... I did that for a while and then went to other CNC machines like mills and routers. In 2007 I was given the opportunity to learn a waterjet, which is a machine that cuts with high pressure water (60,000 to 87,000 PSI) and garnet abrasive.

That's what I am currently doing out here in Washington. I'm waterjet cutting aluminum and titanium Boeing aircraft parts. I also do other things like run horizontal/vertical mills and cut raw material using a saw. My education consists of 1 week of tech school training and 18 years of on the job training. As far as pay, I'll just say I make more than $20 an hour and my biggest paycheck for 1 week has been $1330 take home pay. I am NOT union. I don't work for Boeing, I work for one of their suppliers. My job is fun and interesting... I look forward every day to going to work. How many people can honestly say that?

So again... what's your dad's definition of low wages? Is averaging $1000 a week take home pay a low wage to him? If so maybe I should have been an accountant? LOL

As far as intelligence, I may not have a college degree, but I don't have the debt associated with it either. As far as stability, from what I've been told Boeing has enough airplane orders to last 30 years. There was recently 2 press releases about new 737 and 787 orders that totaled over 50 billion dollars as I recall. I think I am doing just fine, especially in this economy. I am 37 years old.

Last edited by TRC2k11; 03-31-2012 at 10:43 PM..
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Old 03-31-2012, 11:37 PM
 
Location: Southern California
3,113 posts, read 8,363,898 times
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Some women want a business man, sure. But there are plenty of other women who want a man who works with his hands. As long as you're okay with attracting the latter, you'll be fine!

Personally I couldn't care less what a man does for a living - as long as he's smart, and happy, and I find him attractive, that's all I need!
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Old 03-31-2012, 11:47 PM
 
4,761 posts, read 14,251,774 times
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My dad always told me if I didn't do good in school, I would be a ditch digger! "Do you want to be a ditch digger?" He would say.

Now I have my own house and will sometimes run lines in the yard. I dig my own ditches by hand and I enjoy the exercise! (I think... Boy if dad could see me now!)

Anyway I've always been interested in electrical/electronic/mechanical things. I always did that for fun. Then had careers doing those various things. And it was fun going to work! I looked forward to going to work...

Then I got into management and had to sit in an office all day. The fun ended with a quickness!

So I certainly understand where you are at. Also money is not everything. We spend a good portion of our lives at work. It makes for a better life if that portion is doing something you like.

I say go for it! Lots of interesting things to do out there. And you could always fall back on accounting if things get tough. Maybe do some side work on weekends if needed. No one can add, so you are very secure in that!

Anyway knowing electrical/electronics is *very* handy. Something breaks - fix it! Don't like where that wire or outlet is - move it! Want a video line from this room to that room, just run it.

If you are interested in electrical, the "Mike Holt Forums" have professional electricians posting there...
Mike Holt's Forum

Then his web site has all sorts of educational material, electrician's calculators, and other goodies...
Mike Holt

And search youtube for mike holt.

There are Do it Yourself electrical forums, but a lot of homeowners and misinformation on those.

If you want to fiddle with microcontrollers and learn how they work, learn how to program them, Parallax has excellent forums with electrical engineers posting sometimes. Everything is controlled by microcontrollers these days, so handy to learn that. Here are those links...
Parallax Forums

Parallax Home
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Old 04-01-2012, 04:23 AM
 
18,671 posts, read 33,286,569 times
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Sounds like Dad is something of a snob, rather, quite a snob. People who don't work in cubes aren't intelligent? Boy, he sure doesn't get out much, does he?
And if some woman turned away from OP because he didn't work in a cube farm or something, well, t'hell with her. I am so tired of women making me look bad (as a member of the club...) by seeing men as wallets, cars, or status. If you want status or a cube job or a car, buy it your own self, and see a man for what he genuinely offers as a man!
I think OP should work hard to shut out his father's voice (in his head, if it's gotten lodged) and find something he's open to learning, being good at, and making a good living when it gets good.
Wonder if OP's mother would only take up with Dad if he wore a white collar.
I'm sure OP can be "educated" by reading and thinking and discussing. This status stuff is for the birds. Best wishes.
I love how OP caught on to the sprinkler system guy, who seems to really like what he does and who would ever have heard about it except for this board?!
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Old 04-01-2012, 04:35 AM
 
26,585 posts, read 61,931,227 times
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Your dad is dead wrong. I have numerous friends in the skilled trades who makes six figures (with some O/T) and have a pretty stress free life. You can outsource many if not most white collar jobs. You can't outsource butchering meat, inspecting sprinkler systems, fixing diesel engines, fixing wind turbines, etc.

My only other comment is your nest egg--if that's mostly in retirement accounts, early withdrawl will cost you dearly in taxes and penalties, and you probably only have about 2/3 of what you actually think you have at this point. Just food for thought.
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Old 04-01-2012, 06:45 AM
 
2,953 posts, read 2,892,623 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by annerk View Post
Your dad is dead wrong. I have numerous friends in the skilled trades who makes six figures (with some O/T) and have a pretty stress free life. You can outsource many if not most white collar jobs. You can't outsource butchering meat, inspecting sprinkler systems, fixing diesel engines, fixing wind turbines, etc.
This is true. Many people would choke if they knew what some of these guys haul home. It is truly stupefying.

Looking at blue collar work and thinking everyone gets paid generally the same is like looking at white collar work and thinking no one gets paid much more than a basic receptionist. With high skilled labor, their really isn't that much labor involved anyways.
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Old 04-01-2012, 06:56 AM
 
Location: Moon Over Palmettos
5,978 posts, read 19,864,128 times
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Our son has always been a math whiz, but we told him that if he wanted to get into a vocational career, we're all for it. Electricians and plumbers make a ton of money! We also have a client (a gutter and fence guy) who makes about $500K in revenues, another installing windows (who makes $250K), and the list goes on. Must like what they do and working with their hands. Unfortunately, my son isn't one of those, so he's gotta stick to a career behind a desk.
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Old 04-01-2012, 07:02 AM
 
26,585 posts, read 61,931,227 times
Reputation: 13161
Quote:
Originally Posted by bibit612 View Post
Our son has always been a math whiz, but we told him that if he wanted to get into a vocational career, we're all for it. Electricians and plumbers make a ton of money! We also have a client (a gutter and fence guy) who makes about $500K in revenues, another installing windows (who makes $250K), and the list goes on. Must like what they do and working with their hands. Unfortunately, my son isn't one of those, so he's gotta stick to a career behind a desk.
Or a hybrid of the two. A business colleague of mine is an mechanical application engineer, but he spends as much time in the shop helping to build and QA the things he designs as he does behind a desk.
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